Thomas Eric Duncan

Dallas Volunteers Fight Ebola at Its Source by Trying to Rebuild West Africa

Bentley Is an Extremely Cute Dog, But Tomorrow's Press Conference Is Insane

As of Tuesday, Amber Vinson and Nina Pham, the two Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurses to get Ebola after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, are Ebola-free. It's remarkable, inspiring news. Seeing the two speak at their post-release press conference was, in a way, like seeing someone back from the d ... More >>

Nurse Amber Vinson Is Headed Home, Free from Ebola

Amber Vinson, the second Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to contract Ebola during treatment of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, is being released from Emory University Hospital near Atlanta. "I'm so grateful to be well," she said. "While this is a d ... More >>

Nina Pham Is Going Home

Nina Pham is Ebola free. The National Institutes of Health announced Friday morning that Pham, the first of Thomas Eric Duncan's treatment team to be diagnosed with Ebola, has successfully fought off the disease and will able to return to Dallas later Friday. "She has no virus in her, she feels wel ... More >>

Ebola in Dallas: October 23

Counting down the days (15) until our fair city is, officially, Ebola-free. Here's what's happening: The condition of the patients Late yesterday afternoon, Amber Vinson's family announced that she was Ebola-free, meaning that the there was no detectable viral load in her blood. She remains at Emor ... More >>

News that Richardson Will Get an Ebola Center Doesn't Spark Panic in the Streets

On Monday, Governor Rick Perry announced that UT Southwestern Medical Center, Methodist Health System and Parkland Hospital System would be partnering to open a dedicated Ebola treatment center at the Methodist Campus for Continuing Care in Richardson. With Wednesday's opening, we spoke to residents ... More >>

Ebola in Dallas: October 22

As hysteria fades, people's lives are still being affected. Here's what's happening: The conditions of the patients Late Tuesday afternoon, Nina Pham was upgraded from fair to good condition by her treatment team at the National Institutes of Health. Amber Vinson is still stable at Emory University ... More >>

Presby's Nurses Announce Support for the Hospital But Secrecy Remains

On Monday afternoon, dozens of nurses, doctors and other healthcare employees convened at the front entrance of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to discuss the recent controversy about how the hospital handled the Ebola outbreak. Despite definitive comments in support of the hospital, Presby's nur ... More >>

Ebola in Dallas: Your Post-Weekend Update

Here's a roundup of the (mostly good) Ebola news from over the weekend: The condition of the patients: Amber Vinson is still being treated at Emory University hospital in Atlanta. Se remains in stable condition. Over the weekend, her family issued a statement asking for privacy and disputing claims ... More >>

Local Attorneys Gearing Up For Ebola Lawsuits

The rhetoric from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurses in the last several days has been vehement. Nurses are anonymously alleging that the hospital did not take proper steps to prevent contamination and infection, which ultimately led to nurses Amber Vinson and Nina Pham contracting Ebola from ... More >>

Your Friday Afternoon Ebola Digest

Heading into a much needed weekend, here's the latest Ebola news of note: The condition of the patients. Nina Pham is now being treated at a National Institutes of Health facility in Maryland. She is listed as being in fair condition. While she was listed in good condition at Presbyterian, doctors ... More >>

Contradictions, Mistakes and Bullshit Are What Worry Us in Ebola Response

Dallas May Soon Declare Ebola Disaster But THERE'S STILL NO REASON TO PANIC!!

On Thursday, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, Mayor Mike Rawlings, and members of city health authorities convened for an emergency commissioners court meeting to officially declare disaster in Dallas. But after a private debate, and a significantly tamer public discussion, the court agreed that wh ... More >>

Poor Bentley the Dog Needs You to Buy 67 Items From His Amazon Wish List

The last few days have been filled with dark news: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Sunday that Nina Pham is Dallas' second Ebola patient, having been one of the nurses to Thomas Eric Duncan. And the World Health Organization announced Tuesday that the fatality rate for Eb ... More >>

UPDATED: Second Dallas Healthcare Worker Has Ebola

Update 12:15 p.m.:Amber Joy Vinson, the second Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurse diagnosed with Ebola after helping treat Thomas Eric Duncan, is being moved to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced at a news conference late this morning ... More >>

Presbyterian's Nurses Are Pushing Back on the CDC and Hospital Over Handling of Ebola

On Tuesday, nurses at Presbyterian Hospital voiced their complaints for the first time -- in so many words. Fearful of ramifications in the workplace, nurses anonymously sent their allegations to National Nurses United, where their comments were read aloud by spokesperson Deborah Burger. The nurse ... More >>

CDC Boss Frieden, "That Is Not in the Cards."

Thomas R. Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, speaking on 7/31/2014: "It is not a potential of Ebola spreading widely in the U.S. That is not in the cards." "We have quarantine stations ... More >>

24 Hours Later, CDC Still Doesn't Know How Nurse Contracted Ebola

The news Sunday was disturbing. A Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurse -- confirmed Monday to be 26-year-old Nina Pham -- had contracted Ebola. Pham was not one 10 people being monitored for close contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, nor wa ... More >>

Dallas Healthcare Worker Tests Positive For Ebola

According to reports from multiple news outlets and the Centers for Disease Control, a healthcare worker -- reportedly a nurse -- who was in contact with Thomas Eric Duncan has tested positive for the Ebola virus. The test was performed by the Texas Department of State Health Services and is being c ... More >>

Thomas Eric Duncan's Fever Was in Range for Ebola During His First Hospital Visit, AP Says

Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S., had a fever of 103 degrees during his first visit to Presbyterian Hospital, The Associated Press reports. The Centers for Disease Control lists a fever of greater than 101.5 degrees as one of the potential signs that someon ... More >>

Dallas County Sheriff's Deputy Taken to Presbyterian Hospital Yesterday Doesn't Have Ebola

Michael Monnig, the man taken from a Frisco Care Now clinic to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas after showing potential Ebola symptoms and indicating that he had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, has tested negative for the Ebola virus. According to conflicting reports yesterday, Monnig ... More >>

Ebola Story Is All About Who, What, Where and Whether To Tell Anybody

One great service Dallas could render to the rest of the country, should the dust ever settle on the local Ebola story, would be a thorough, no-holds-barred post mortem on information sharing. I am already hearing from people behind the scenes, speaking off the record, that there has been significan ... More >>

Thomas Eric Duncan, First Person to Develop Ebola in the U.S., Dies

Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national being treated for Ebola at Dallas' Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital died this morning at 7:51 a.m.. Presbyterian issued the following statement: "It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric ... More >>

Thomas Eric Duncan's Death Shows Ebola Is a Killer Wherever It Strikes

The death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan on Wednesday morning comes as a shock, despite his infection with one of the most dangerous illnesses in the world. "When people get sick, we will recognize them. And the local health departments will go to action and do the same kind of thing as here," ... More >>

Highland Park ISD Wants Parents to Know They Are Safe From Clay Jenkins and His Family

This week, Highland Park school district's "Nurses's Corner" is an attempt to assuage parents' fears about the Ebola risk at HPISD schools. There is no risk, the letter says, despite Armstrong Elementary parent Clay Jenkins being in close contact with members of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan's f ... More >>

The Economics of a Fear Epidemic Vs. Ebola Epidemic

How much does it cost to care for a single case of Ebola in the United States? Between specialized treatment, identifying and tracking down every possible contact, decontaminating every possible touched or vomited-upon surface, the cost of containing an Ebola outbreak is substantial, though perhaps ... More >>

Dallas Parents Keeping Kids Home from School, and "Wondering How Much to Freak Out"

As a rule, high school sucks. Now imagine going to high school thinking you could get infected with one of the most deadly viruses known to man. There are a few caveats to that, of course. One, ebola is not nearly as deadly as we like to think -- far more people are killed by, say, the common flu ... More >>

How About We Very Calmly Count the Failures on Ebola So Far? Calm Enough For You?

There has been much more talk in Dallas the last few days about the dangers of panic than about the dangers of Ebola. In the meantime if we are paying attention we must notice by now that our vaunted Western industrialized defenses against contagion are riddled with holes. We know that the Dallas ... More >>

Dallas' Effort to Relocate the Ebola-Exposed Family Might Not Be So Easy

For now, the occupants of the Vickery Meadow apartment where patient Thomas Eric Duncan was staying are hunkered down in their ebola-tainted quarters while a Hazmat team scrubs the unit and the rest of Dallas preps for the end times. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told reporters in a conference c ... More >>

Ebola in Dallas: What We Know

Newest updates will appear at the bottom of this post. September 20: Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan arrives in Dallas from Monrovia, Liberia via Brussels. Duncan made an intervening stop at Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C.. September 26: Duncan first visits Texas Health Pres ... More >>

Things Are Tense at Presbyterian Right Now

For the most part it was business as usual at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Wednesday. Patients waited to be admitted, staffers walked briskly to their cars after their long, grueling shifts end. But there was an eerie quietness in the waiting rooms and admitting areas: Besides the ... More >>

Dallas Spokesman Says Reporters Scaring Residents at Apartments Where Ebola Patient Stayed

A school bus parked in front of the Ivy Apartments yesterday afternoon and let out dozens of kids as reporters filmed B-roll and took photographs across the street. The news stations had already confirmed that this apartment complex in Vickery Meadows was where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed in Dallas be ... More >>

We're Safe from Ebola Because We're Rich. How Is That Working Out So Far?

A major theme -- a very dangerous one -- in the reaction here to the arrival of Ebola is the notion that we are protected by our cultural and economic superiority from the kind of contagion now in Africa and that all we need to do is remain calm. I sincerely question whether calm is our most appropr ... More >>